Idiom America

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A podcast that takes a look at the origin and history of some of those gems of language, idioms, and then goes from there.

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    • May 12, 2024 LATEST EPISODE
    • monthly NEW EPISODES
    • 17m AVG DURATION
    • 42 EPISODES


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    Latest episodes from Idiom America

    Cycling Idioms: Along for the ride; Backpedal; Freewheeling; Take off the training wheels; Fifth wheel or third wheel; Shift gears; Spin one's wheels; Back in the saddle; Handlebar moustache;

    Play Episode Listen Later May 12, 2024 18:37


    Stick Idioms: Short end of the stick; Get hit with the stupid stick; Fiddlesticks!; Wrong end of the stick; Stick in the mud; Beat them off with a stick;

    Play Episode Listen Later May 2, 2024 15:22


    Better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick; Speak softly and carry a big stick; More XYZ than you can shake a stick at;.

    Moon Idioms: Moonstruck; Moonshine; Once in a blue moon; Moonlight; Hang the moon; Shoot for the moon; Mooning away, over, around, or about;

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 21, 2024 24:16


    Over the moon; The moon is made of green cheese; Love you to the moon and back; Shoot the moon; Moonshot; Ask for the moon; Moon on a stick; Cast beyond the moon; Barking at the moon; Harvest moon; Blood moon; Moon-faced; Moongazing

    Pots and Pans Idioms, Part II: Pot calling the kettle black; Melting pot; Stirring the pot; Jackpot; Crackpot; Different kettle of fish; Tempest in a teapot; Keep the pot boiling; Potluck

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 4, 2023 19:31


    Potpourri; Perpetual stew; Potlatch; Pot of gold at the end of a rainbow; Tosspot; Fusspot; Honeypot; Sexpot; Pretty kettle of fish

    Pots and Pans Idioms, Part I: Flash in the pan; Out of the frying pan into the fire; Pan out; Pan over; Pan as criticism; Deadpan; Going to pot; Potshot

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 20, 2023 13:04


    Pothunter; Down the pan; Down the toilet; Cast iron skillets

    US President Idioms, Part 6: Bloviation; Normalcy; America First; Lightning in a bottle; Americanism; Founding Fathers

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 7, 2023 20:16


    Dollar Diplomacy; Panda Diplomacy; Writing history with lightning; Bottled lightning; THE Congress

    Gauntlets, Gamuts, and Gloves: Run the gauntlet; Run the gamut; Throw down the gauntlet; Take up the gauntlet; Step into the breach; Take off the gloves; Rule with a velvet glove

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 18, 2023 13:29


    Once more unto the breach; More honored in the breach than the observance; Drop the gloves; Gloves are off; Iron fist in a velvet glove; Next into the breach; Run the gantlet

    Foreign Idioms: Neither the fuzz nor the feather; When the crawdad whistles on the mountain; Boondocks; Thresh empty straw; Once upon a time and other fairy tale endings

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 9, 2023 17:41


    Ни пуха ни пера, Break a leg; Когда рак на горе свистнет, When pigs fly; Делать из мухи слона, Make a mountain out of a molehill; Не в своей тарелке, Not in one's element, or like a fish out of water; Первый блин всегда комом; Prvi se mačići u vodu bacaju; Bogu iza nogu; Ne traži dlaku u jajetu; Mlatiti praznu slamu, Beat a dead horse; There's no cow on the ice; Go pick mushrooms; The carrots are cooked; Stretch your legs as far as your blanket extends; To speak directly from the liver; To push something with your belly; Did you fall from a Christmas tree; God bless you and may your mustache grow like brushwood.

    Sick Idioms and Slang: Under the weather; Green around the gills; To turn a blind eye; Frog in the throat; Feeling groggy; Off-kilter; Out-of-sorts; Down in the dumps; Sick as a dog

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 3, 2023 17:39


    Slang: Bussin'; Slappin; Slay; 'Sup; Aight; Word; Hella; Shiznit; The bomb; Booyah; Oh snap; As if; Not!; Whatever!

    Veggie Idioms: Can't squeeze blood from a turnip; Fell off the turnip truck; Cornfed; Corny; Carrot-and-stick; Like peas and carrots; Two peas in a pod

    Play Episode Listen Later May 20, 2023 16:10


    Can't get blood from a stone; Fresh off the boat; Cabbage-head; Turnip-head; I don't boil my cabbage twice; I'm not so green as cabbage looking; Cornbread; Cornball; Hokey; Easy as shelling peas; Thick as pea soup

    Tool Idioms: Wrench in the works; Monkeywrench; If all you have's a hammer everything's a nail; Hit the nail on the head; Go at it hammer and tongs; Bring the hammer down

    Play Episode Listen Later May 6, 2023 14:34


    Use a sledgehammer to crack a nut; Throw a spanner in the works; Bodies upon the gears; Maslow's hammer; Between the hammer and the anvil; Between a rock and a hard place; Drop the hammer on; Go under the hammer; Dumb as a bag of hammers; Dumb as a box of rocks; Not the sharpest tool in the shed; Sledgehammer argument; Poor craftsman that blames his tools; Tools of the trade; Tool around

    Coincidences and Rubbing Idioms: There's the rub; Shuffle off this mortal coil; Rub it in; Rub someone the wrong way; Rub salt in someone's wound; Rub elbows with; Rub off on

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 14, 2023 17:38


    Rub shoulders with; Rub your hands with glee; Rub of the green; Rub out; Rub someone's nose in it; Ruffle someone's feathers

    Bean Idioms: Spill the beans; Bean counter; Doesn't amount to a hill of beans; Full of beans; Cool beans; Politics ain't bean bag

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 1, 2023 14:58


    Old bean; Bean time; Bean wagon; Not have a bean; String bean; Beanpole; Bean head; Not know beans; Boring as beans

    Heel Idioms: Well-heeled; Down-at-the-heels; Achilles' heel; Dig in one's heels; Bring someone to heel; Under the heel; Take to one's heels; Show one's heels; Kick up your heels; Cool one's heels;

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 19, 2023 17:59


    Out at elbows; Out at heels; Drag your heels; Set back on your heels; At someone's heels; Hard on someone's heels; Hot on someone's heels; Under the thumb; Show a clean pair of heels; Cop a heel; Spin on one's heels; Turn on your heels; Fall head over heels in love; Head over heels in debt; Real heel

    Hat Idioms, Part II: I'll eat my hat; Feather in your cap; Tip of the hat; Doff one's hat; Pass the hat; With hat in hand; Hat trick; At the drop of a hat; All hat and no cattle

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 7, 2023 16:02


    Hats off; Old hat; All sizzle and no steak; All bark and no bite

    Hat Idioms: Mad as a hatter; Hang one's Hat; To throw your hat into the ring; Keep something under your hat; Put your name in the hat; Put your thinking cap on; Dunce cap

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 26, 2023 18:44


    Hang up one's hat; Tin foil hat; Hang on to your hat; To wear more than one hat; Pooh-bah

    Egg Idioms: Egg on your face; Egghead; Baker's dozen; Egg someone on; Nest egg; Can't make an omelet without breaking some eggs; Good egg; Go suck an egg

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 16, 2023 20:44


    Bad egg; Don't put all your eggs in one basket; Egg money; Bald as an egg; Which came first, the chicken or the egg; Over-egg the pudding; Egging; Teaching your grandma to suck eggs; Rotten egg; Last one in is a rotten egg; Can't boil an egg; Can't unboil an egg.

    Smoke Idioms: Smoke and mirrors; Put that in your pipe and smoke it; Blowing smoke; Smoking gun; Where there's smoke there's fire; Get smoked; Pipe-dream

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 5, 2023 17:24


    Blowing smoke up someone's ass; Smoke the peace pipe; Smokescreen; Holy smoke(s); What have you been smoking

    Duck Idioms: Lucky duck; Sitting duck; Dead duck; Lame duck; Duck and cover; Have one's ducks in a row; Duck soup; Like a duck to water; Milkshake duck

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 26, 2023 16:55


    Since one was knee-high to a duck; Lovely weather for ducks; Like water off a duck's back; Duck face; If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, and swims like a duck, then it must be a duck.

    Bird Idioms: Birds of a feather; Bird in the hand; A little bird told me; Sing like a bird; Boobird; Odd bird; Rare bird; Kill two birds with one stone

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 19, 2023 17:27


    Flip the bird; Tough old bird; Yardbird; Snowbird; Anapodoton; Black swan

    Blade Idioms: Sword of Damocles; Hang by a thread; Fall on one's sword; Beat swords into plowshares; Saber-rattling; Bury the hatchet; Hatchet job;

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 8, 2023 15:48


    White idioms: White elephant; white knight; white lies; white knuckle; white hat hacker

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 18, 2022 15:08


    Cutting Idioms, part 2: Cut it out; Cut out for; Work cut out for; Cut from whole cloth; Cut a deal; Cut against the grain; Cut the cord; Cut to ribbons; Cut corners;Cut both ways; Cut it with a knife

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 8, 2022 15:19


    Cut a figure; Knock it off; Cut a check; Double-edged sword

    Idioms from US Presidents, Part 5

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 1, 2022 20:57


    Rock the boat; bully pulpit; mollycoddle; muckraking; pull yourself up by the bootstraps; lunatic fringe; loose cannon

    Cutting Idioms: Cut one's teeth; Cut of someone's jib; Cut the mustard; Cut a rug; Cut to the quick; Cut and run; Fish or cut bait; Cut a wide swathe

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 17, 2022 15:33


    Cut off your nose to spite your face; Unkindest cut; Cut to the bone; Cut and dried

    Gem Idioms: Hidden Gem; Diamond in the rough; The world is your oyster; Clutch one's pearls

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 10, 2022 17:00


    A cut above; Casting pearls before swine; Pearl of great price; Pearls of wisdom; Idaho the gem state

    Bell Idioms: Ring in the New Year; Death knell; For whom the bell tolls; Ring a bell; Be there with bells on;

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 30, 2021 17:24


    You can't unring a bell; Ring somebody's bell; Saved by the bell; Wear the cap and bells; All the bells and whistles; Sound as a bell.

    Silver idioms: Silver lining; Silver-tongued; Silver bullet; Magic bullet; 30 pieces of silver; Silver screen

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 17, 2021 15:38


    Sell the family silver; Sell one's birthright for a mess of pottage; Born with a silver spoon in one's mouth; Serve something on a silver platter.

    Idioms from US Presidents, Part 4

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 10, 2021 19:01


    Spoils system; cronyism; strange bedfellows; pork-barrel; To the victor go the spoils; Buffalo x 8; Kid gloves.

    Thanksgiving Idioms: Talk turkey; Go cold turkey; Gobble up; To be stuffed, etc.

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 24, 2021 18:00


    Gobble, gobble; Eat like a bird; Stuffed shirt; The rest is gravy; Ride the gravy train; As American as apple pie.

    Goose idioms: Wild goose chase; One's goose is cooked; Goosebumps, etc.

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 23, 2021 22:03


    Killing the goose that lays the golden eggs; Golden goose; Goose up; Goose-stepping; Loose as a goose, loosey goosey; Silly goose; Take a gander

    Idioms from US Presidents, Part 3

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 15, 2021 17:32


    Two-faced; Contronyms; Sugar-coated; Demonyms; Michigander; House divided, Illeism; Come in handy; Corporation; Do the math.

    Idioms from US Presidents, Part 2

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 8, 2021 16:43


    Keep the ball rolling; Booze; Peculation, defalcation, and condign; 54-50 or fight!; Bed of roses; Twiddling one's thumbs; Dark horse; Confirmed bachelor.

    Idioms from US Presidents, Part 1

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 30, 2021 21:17


    Ok!! Washington, Jefferson, administration, nip it in the bud, squatters, gag rule, worth one's salt etc.

    Cat idioms, Part III: Raining cats and dogs

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 25, 2021 15:55


    Cat on a hot tin roof; Pussyfooting; Cat burglar; Bell the cat; Scaredy cat; Copycat; Catnap; Dead cat bounce; Fat cat

    Cat idioms, Part II: There's more than one way to skin a cat

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 20, 2021 18:27


    Curiosity killed the cat; A cat's nine lives; Let the cat out of the bag; Not enough room to swing a cat, etc.

    Cat idioms, Part I: Catcalls, hepcats, cats that swallowed the canary, etc.

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 14, 2021 18:50


    The cat's pajamas, looked what the cat dragged in, caterwauling, cathouses and more.

    "Red" idioms: red herring; caught red-handed; red-blooded; red meat; red-baiting; red tape and more.

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 8, 2021 24:43


    In addition to the above, looks at idioms like better dead than red, red alert, raise a red flag, see red, not one red cent, red-letter days, roll out the red carpet, and paint the town red.

    To tide one over, and other "tide" idioms

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 5, 2021 17:05


    Takes a look at idioms involving "tide," as well at the tide that shows up in words like yuletide and tidings. Also visits the topics of tidal power and the moon's wobble.

    Fit to be tied and other "tying" idioms

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 31, 2021 17:24


    Looks at idioms involving the act of "tying," as well as "cat got your tongue," typography, and knots.

    Pulling out all the stops

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 30, 2021 14:57


    This second episode looks at idioms such as "pulling out all the stops," "bats in the belfry," "dead ringer," and more, and features a Josh Ritter lyric, pipe organs, and coffins.

    Full of vim and vigor

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 30, 2021 21:00


    Looks at idioms like "full of vim and vigor," "long in the tooth," and "playing hooky," as well as digging a hole for a trampoline.

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